Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has died. The college-football legend was 85 years old when he succumbed in his battle with lung cancer.

Paterno's diagnosis was revealedr in mid November, shortly after he was dismissed from his duties as coach of the Nittany Lions. Paterno's ouster came in the aftermath of the arrest of Jerry Sandusky, a longtime Paterno lieutenant facing more than 50 counts of sexual abuse against children. Amid evidence that Paterno had been notified of the abuse but had done little beyond his legal obligation to prevent it, the Penn State board of trustees voted to dismiss the longtime coach in November. The scandal reverberated beyond college football, and sullied a reputation that had once seemed unimpeachable — particularly in central Pennsylvania, where Paterno, or "JoePa," was revered.

During his 46 seasons coaching Penn State, Paterno racked up 409 wins -- the the record for a Division I football coach. He guided his teams to national championships in 1982 and 1986.

The Brooklyn native is survived by his wife, Sue, and their five children.

R.I.P. Coach. Condolences to the Paterno family and the entire Penn State community.

pfelix73

01-21-2012, 10:18 PM

Holy Cow!

R.I.P. Coach +

SteelCrazy

01-21-2012, 10:24 PM

Joe Paterno Has Not Passed Away, Family Spokesman Says

A spokesman for the family of Joe Paterno is denying the former Penn State coach has passed away on Saturday afternoon. Following numerous reports indicating Paterno had passed away, the spokesman released a statement categorically denying the rumors.

The report comes from Mark Viera, who passes along the spokesman's quick statement.

Dan McGinn, the Paterno family spokesman, at 8:57 p.m. on reports about Joe Paterno's death: "Absolutely not true."

As a PSU alum, and having a brother who was recruited out of Penn Hills HS by coach Paterno, I am devastated by everything that has happened in the past few months. My heart goes out to his family. I will never forget him.

SteelCrazy

01-21-2012, 10:36 PM

As a PSU alum, and having a brother who was recruited out of Penn Hills HS by coach Paterno, I am devastated by everything that has happened in the past few months. My heart goes out to his family. I will never forget him.

He's not dead, read post above yours

Shoe

01-21-2012, 11:12 PM

Dude,
That is some ****TY reporting by the reporter who wrote that he's DEAD. As of 10:10 pm EST, ESPN still has him in serious condition. To report something like that just is beyond bush league.

Saying that, it appears to be a grave situation. This highlights what we all sorta knew: you begin to die, the day you lose your reason to live.

JAR

01-22-2012, 09:33 AM

PSU editor quits after erroneous Paterno report

(AP) PHILADELPHIA — The managing editor of a student-run news organization that covers Penn State resigned Saturday after the publication's Twitter account sent messages saying former coach Joe Paterno had died, according to a letter on the publication's website.

Paterno's sons refuted accounts of their 85-year-old father's death in Twitter messages posted after those by Onward State.

Paterno has lung cancer and has been in a hospital since Jan. 13. His doctors say recent complications have made his condition "serious."

Onward State recanted its posts but not before the erroneous information was reported and amplified by many media organizations across the country and retweeted countless times. The Associated Press did not publish the report.

Devon Edwards said in the letter that he takes responsibility for the misinformation. He said the publication retracted its tweets after "the mountain of evidence stacked opposite that report became too much to ignore." He also apologized to the Paterno family and the Penn State community.

It is with great sadness that we announce that Joe Paterno passed away earlier today. His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled.

He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.

He has been many things in his life—a soldier, scholar, mentor, coach, friend and father. To my mother he was and is her soul mate, and the last several weeks have shown the strength of their love. To his children and grandchildren he is a shining example of how to live a good, decent and honest life, a standard to which we aspire.

When he decided to forego a career in law and make coaching his vocation, his father Angelo had but one command: Make an impact.

As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact. That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country.

And so he leaves us with a peaceful mind, comforted by his "living legacy" of five kids, 17 grandchildren, and hundreds of young men whose lives he changed in more ways than can begin to be counted.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that donations be made to the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania or the Penn State-THON, The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

Ghost

01-22-2012, 11:43 AM

Its unfortunate how things ended but JoePa positively touched tens of thousands of lives. It's a sad day. Condolences to his family and all the people who knew him. :(

flippy

01-22-2012, 02:19 PM

WOnder if the stress from the scandal is what killed him?

Steelers&gt;NFL

01-22-2012, 02:31 PM

Between a broken heart and radiation/chemo treatments, this indeed did killed him. So sad...
There is no way and hell a 85 yr old should be going through rad. & chemo treatments.
God bless Joepa and his family.

hawaiiansteel

01-22-2012, 04:43 PM

Farewell, Joe Paterno

Posted by Mike Florio on January 22, 2012

Our brethren at CFT have been covering the Joe Paterno situation thoroughly and appropriately, but we can’t overlook the passing of one of the most significant figures in football history, even though Paterno never played or coached pro football.

Fewer than five months ago, Paterno reacted to the death of Raiders owner Al Davis by disclosing that Davis had tried to hire Paterno to be the team’s offensive coordinator when Davis was working as the head coach. (Yes, Davis actually coached the Raiders from 1963 through 1965, giving up the reins at roughly the same time Paterno became head coach at Penn State.)

“When Al got the job [in Oakland], he called me to be his offensive coordinator,” Paterno said in October 2011. “I told Al, ‘You and I would have trouble getting along, because I am smarter than you are.’”

In 1969, the Steelers offered Paterno a job that eventually went to Chuck Noll. At the time, Paterno was making $20,000 per year; the Steelers offered him $70,000. And Paterno passed.

“It was an awful lot of money, a fantastic offer,” Paterno had said. “I’d never dreamed of making that much money. Then I started thinking about what I wanted to do. I had put some things out of whack. I haven’t done the job I set out to do at Penn State.”

Paterno did the job, and in hindsight some will say he stayed too long. But as Brent Musburger told Dan Patrick more than three years ago, Paterno feared that, if he retired, he’d soon die — like Bear Bryant did less than a month after retiring from the University of Alabama.

In the end, that’s what happened. Officially caused by a form of lung cancer that when disclosed was described as not life threatening, Paterno’s life ended fewer than three months after he coached his final game.

The circumstances surrounding the conclusion of his tenure should never be forgotten, primarily to ensure that the events won’t be repeated at Penn State, or elsewhere. But few figures from any sport had the kind of impact, success, and longevity that came from the coaching career of Joe Paterno.

We extend our condolences to his family, friends, assistant coaches, players, and the entire Penn State community.

Lung cancer, and the effect of chemotherapy and radiation on an 85 year old body, likely had more of an impact on his demise.

Steelers&gt;NFL

01-22-2012, 08:16 PM

WOnder if the stress from the scandal is what killed him?

Lung cancer, and the effect of chemotherapy and radiation on an 85 year old body, likely had more of an impact on his demise.
Exactly. Especially the latter two. But they will never say that the treamtents ultimately
claimed his life.

hawaiiansteel

01-25-2012, 03:12 AM

Originally Published: January 23, 2012

Joe Paterno's true legacy

By Rick Reilly
ESPN.com

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0123/espn_taliaferro_paterno_576.jpg

Adam Taliaferro and Joe Paterno in 2010, 10 years after the player and coach had formed a strong bond in the wake of Taliaferro's horrifying spinal cord injury.

Maybe you will never be convinced Joe Paterno was a good man who made one catastrophic mistake, but do you have time for just one story?

In 2000, Penn State freshman defensive back Adam Taliaferro had his spine crushed when tackling an Ohio State player. He lay on that September field paralyzed and panicked.

The first person he saw when he opened his eyes was Paterno, who died Sunday at 85.

"He could see I was losing it, but his eyes stayed totally calm," Taliaferro remembers. "And I remember that familiar, high-pitched voice, going, 'You're gonna get through this, Kid. You're gonna be OK.' And I just trusted him. I believed it."

Taliaferro wound up in a hospital bed in Philadelphia, everything frozen solid below the neck. Doctors said he had about a 3 percent chance of walking again. And every other week, Paterno would fly to Philly to see him.

"He'd bring our trainer and a couple of my teammates," Taliaferro says. "Nobody in the hospital knew he was there." Paterno would tell him all the dumb things his teammates and coaches had done lately. Pretty soon, Taliaferro would be laughing his IVs out.

"I can't tell you what that meant to me," says Taliaferro, now 30. "I'm stuck in that hospital, and here's Coach Paterno bringing a piece of the team to me, in the middle of the season. How many coaches would do that?"

One midnight, Taliaferro moved a toe and the first person his dad called was Paterno. His dad held the phone to Adam's ear and Paterno said, "You're gonna prove 'em all wrong, Kid!"

From then on, every visit, Paterno wanted to see Taliaferro move something new. "I got to where I wanted to be ready. A finger, a hand, whatever. I wanted to perform for Coach Paterno."

One day, five months into it, Paterno walked in and said, "What's new, Kid?" Taliaferro swung his legs over the bed, stood and extended his hand to shake.

"I'll never forget his eyes," he says. "They were already huge behind those Coke-bottle glasses, but they got even bigger." Paterno gave him a 10-second hug and then said, "Kid, ya make me proud."

A man is more than his failings.

I learned a lot about Paterno when I wrote a story about him in 1986 for Sports Illustrated. I've learned a lot about him since. He was a humble, funny and giving man who was unlike any other coach I ever met in college football. He rolled up his pants to save on dry cleaning bills. He lived in the same simple ranch house for the last 45 years.

Same glasses, same wife, same job, for most of his adult life.

He was a man who had two national championships, five undefeated seasons, and yet for years he drove a white Ford Tempo. In 46 years as a head coach, he never had a single major NCAA violation.

He was the only coach I've ever known who went to the board of trustees to demand they increase entrance requirements, who went to faculty club meetings to hear the lectures, who listened to opera while drawing up game plans.

He was a Depression kid who wouldn't allow stars on helmets or names on jerseys. And he hated expensive tennis shoes.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0122/ncf_e_paterno-shoes01jr_300.jpg

He'd see a player wearing Air Jordans and say, "It's not the sneakers, Kid, it's the person in them."

One day Taliaferro wore an entirely different pair into his office, a pair of "Air Paternos" he'd made himself. "He freaked out," Taliaferro remembers. "He was about to call Nike. He thought they were real!"

As a gag, Taliaferro made these sneakers to show Paterno. They represented everything the coach did not stand for.

If a player was struggling with a subject, Paterno would make him come to his house for wife Sue's homemade pasta and her tutoring. One time, he told a high school blue chipper named Bob White he wouldn't recruit him unless he agreed to read 12 novels and turn in two-page book reports to Sue. They were the first books he ever finished. White wound up with two degrees and a job at the university.

Paterno was other things, too, like controlling and immovable. He lingered as head coach when he promised time and again he wouldn't. And when he needed to follow up on what he'd been told about Jerry Sandusky and a child in the shower in 2002, he failed miserably.

But he followed up for thousands of others.

Even though Taliaferro would never play football again, Paterno stayed on him to keep moving. "I came to Penn State to become a lawyer," he told him. "But I never made it. You could, Kid. You're smart."

He got the fully recovered Taliaferro a summer internship with the NFLPA in New York and, before you knew it, Taliaferro was a corporate lawyer in Cherry Hill, N.J. He successfully ran for local office there and is now running for the Penn State board of trustees, where he wants to help his school heal from a scandal Paterno made worse with his neglect.

"The last three months, I've just wanted to go up on a rooftop and shout, 'I wish you knew him like I do!'" Taliaferro says. "I know, in my heart, if he'd understood how serious this situation was, he'd have done more."

I believe that, too. But if you don't, I respect that. I only ask this:

If we're so able to vividly remember the worst a man did, can't we also remember the best?